Viewing sunnyg's Garden Diary: april 2008

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

frog update

I didn’t see any sign of the frogs today, but they are croaking right now! I am thrilled! My mom’s friend who helped us with the bullfrog ID sent her this link, and my mom forwarded it on this morning.

It’s interesting that this says they like clean water, as we collected them from a pretty murky environment. We put pond water and some of the debris that they were hanging out in into the aquarium to try and replicate their home as much as possible. I am now wondering if we need to add to or change the water in the aquarium. I think I will hold off and do a bit more research first. They seemed to be quite successful in their scummy former home, after all.

We also haven’t fed them as the water is full of both plant material and critters. I guess I need to look into getting some lettuce for them at some point though, as I don’t want them to go hungry. We haven’t removed the pantyhose mesh cover from the aquarium since A first put it on, and it would be a challenge to have to take it on and off a lot. Apparently pantyhose were not designed to become aquarium screens, LOL. We are still trying to find that perfect spot for the aquarium. We now have it on a chair right next to the house (and the pond) and I will check on it periodically tomorrow to make sure it doesn’t get too much sun.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I fell asleep to croaking last night. The croaks tapered off a bit as the evening progressed. The frogs were still croaking periodically when I fell asleep a little after midnight. Ahhh, so nice! I was out hunting for slugs earlier this afternoon, and all of a sudden I heard “ribbit, ribbit.” The frogs are definitely somewhere around the pond, but still totally hidden.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

there are tadpoles there somewhere, I swear

Here are the two tadpole containers. The small jar (with two tadpoles in it) is the original one that L brought last Fri. The aquarium has the tadpoles that we collected last Sun. I do think that we need to add more water to the aquarium, although a lot of the tadpoles were hanging out in the shallowest part of the aquarium today. I also think we need to try and feed them a tad. A. is going to buy some organic lettuce for them tonight. We have string algae in the main pond, and since tadpoles eat algae I am wondering if we should try a bit of that. Hmmm….I don’t want to kill them with kindness, but I certainly don’t want to neglect them either. I think we will start out with a tiny, tiny bit of food and a small amount of new water and go from there.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

here's one!

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

jm leaves

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

how the yard looks today

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

freesia

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

tadpole having a snack in the sun

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Blurry shot of frog croaking tonight

someone was answering him too! Wow, it's noisy out there tonight.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

frog ID?

yep, this looks like the right frog, per the link below. "This frog can be recognized by sticky toe pads, rather than webbed feet, black stripes through each eye, a V or Y-shaped mark between its eyes, light-colored belly and dark spots on back and legs. Its color varies from a bronze brown to a lime green. Individuals can change color in green and brown tones in a few minutes." They are also "one of the loudest frogs around." Uh oh. http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2007/03/14/cue-the-pacific-tr...

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

worms in the waterfall? EWWWW

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

first alstroemeria blooms

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

rosebud geranium

Thursday, April 10, 2008

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

red baron grass

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

We are having a hard time with aphids, so I decided to spray an insecticidal soap that is not supposed to harm beneficial insects, doesn’t stay in the environment etc. The guy at the nursery told me this stuff is okay to spray near ponds, but I decided to stay away from the pond area…just in case.

After attacking the sad, sad mini roses, I started spraying a couple of mystery plants. These mystery plants are growing in front of a rock, on the edge of the patio. I began to spray, and then this frog suddenly jumped halfway out of a teeny tiny space under the rock. I was kneeling down very close to the plants, and he scared the crap out of me! This was quite unexpected, to say the least. The rock is not particularly near the pond, and the soil around it is mostly parched unamended clay. I didn't spray the frog directly, but hope he didn’t get any of the mist on him either. It just sickens me to think that I might have harmed him. This was the first time I've seen any frog during the day since we released them. I will not be doing any more spraying of even “harmless” insecticidal soap.

Below is a pic of that frog in his crevice.

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Friday, April 11, 2008

mystery iris bloom

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Friday, April 11, 2008

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Friday, April 11, 2008

hummers back again

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Friday, April 11, 2008

eat those aphids!

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

hot day today

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

apparently this is the place to be

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Wow, it is noisy out tonight!!! RIBBIT

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

supertunia really is super

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

new black magic taro...to keep the black stem taro company ;-)

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

froggy and his turtle buddy

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

blue-eyed grass in the sun

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

chillin’ on a fuchsia leaf

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

more clematis shots

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

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Friday, April 18, 2008

they aren't afraid of me at all at this point

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Friday, April 18, 2008

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Friday, April 18, 2008

diascia

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

We gave some of the tadpoles to Anjl today

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

love is in the air....

We released 1800 ladybugs last night. These were a different “brand” than the ones we’ve released before, and they're sticking around a lot longer this time. Hopefully they will leave the next generation behind when they fly off.

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Spotted my first ladybug larva today too. I hope to find more of these guys soon

aphids for lunch…yum!

Friday, April 25, 2008

I think these are the guys that ended up inside the house last summer

Friday, April 25, 2008

dazzler

Friday, April 25, 2008

dazzler seems to get more red as it matures - this is my first bloom ever though

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Friday, April 25, 2008

the hardy blue geraniums seem pretty happy

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

bath time

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

same dazzler bloom as above, later in the afternoon

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

the bee (or one of his buddies) is back

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

geranium

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

I brought these pots back from San Miguel de Allende years ago…

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

mystery iris continues to bloom

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

yeah, it's a fly

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

this bee really likes the lemon blossoms

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

another shot of dazzler

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

well gee...it's about time

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Aha! So this is where you live when not partying on the parrot feather

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

turf war?

I think there’s a turf war going on out there tonight between two different males: parrot feather guy and waterfall guy. This is a pic of waterfall guy. He just hopped on out from the rocks at the side of the waterfall when A started pulling the string algae off the waterfall steps. I snapped some pics of him while he hung out for a bit. However, when parrot feather guy started to croak, waterfall guy abruptly headed back into his home in the rocks. It is noisy out there tonight. I've never been right next to the pond while all the croaking is going on, and it is almost uncomfortably loud. Wow!

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

retreating back to his spot when parrot feather frog begins croaking...

However, once we got back in the house, at least two different frogs were croaking like crazy until well past midnight. I hope our neighbors enjoyed it as much as I did ;-). Perhaps all was not decided while we were out there spying on the action? Around 1 am I only heard one frog croaking periodically. To be continued, I'm sure...

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Monday, April 28, 2008

yep, turf war is continuing tonight. RIBBIT

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Monday, April 28, 2008

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Hey there, buddy :-)

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Monday, April 28, 2008

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Well excuse me!

I planted the sunflower seeds from the sunflower swap today. I had to slide a big rock over a bit to plant, and I disturbed a frog. I looked up from planting, and found him glaring at me from on top of the rock I’d just moved. Oops.